User talk:Chrisstansfield
Cool! How was the Jeopardy experience? Did you do well? More importantly, did you get a copy of your appearance on national TV? :) Something to show the grandkids for sure! Again, sorry about the delay with the forums... Cheers, --Jamie 16:02, 7 March 2007 (UTC) : No worries about the delay- nothing I have to say is particularly urgent (at least according to my friends and family.) The Jeopardy experience was pretty surreal, and I have a frequently re-written essay about it on one of my hard drives. Sometime I'll get around to posting the whole thing on my blog, but here's the condensed version: : Basically, it's a very quick, intense moment (taping) surrounded by months of waiting before and after. To wit: The amount of time between auditioning and making it into the contestant pool and being notified I'd been selected to appear was nearly eight months. Another month passed before I stepped foot in the studio. Then, over two months passed before my shows were televised and I was "officially" allowed to answer the question: "How did you do?". Finally, it was another five or six months before I actually received my prize money (and five or six months of explaining to my friends why their suddenly-wealthier friend still couldn't afford to go out to expensive dinners). So the ratio of time spent anticipating, being nervous, waiting around for the check to arrive, etc. to the actual time spent DOING it is hugely skewed. : I did pretty well, I guess. I was a one-day winner- I'm pretty sure It was the first time I was ever called a "champion." There was a depressive period during which I wished I could have hung on longer, but since only 10% of the people who take the test make it into the pool, only 50% of those people actually appear on the show, and fewer than a third of those people ever win a game, I realized I had nothing to be ashamed of. There is a video tape floating around, as well as that extraordinarily cheesy picture of me with Alex (which makes me look wider than I would have liked and features what was, in retrospect, a bad choice of tie.) Mom and Dad have the tape in California, along with the rest of the small museum they've devoted to the accomplishments of my sister and me. I'm sure that if there are ever any grandchildren, they'll get to see it, but the friends I've made since then have been disappointed to find that they can't. (As poetic and "Sunset Boulevard"-esque the idea of me watching my tape every night is, I don't have the time or the movie projector.) : One last note to anyone who ever wants to go on a game show- the staff of Jeopardy is absolutely awesome, and so are the fellow contestants you meet at the beginning of the day. It couldn't be a friendlier atmosphere- not competitive and not "show-bizzy" at all. My understanding is that this is true of most of the game shows on TV these days, so I really encourage people to take the test and try out for Jeopardy, Millionaire, or any of the other shows on TV. It's not like you have anything to lose! Chrisstansfield 20:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC) ::That is so cool! I wish that I had the time, initiative (and American citizenship) to apply to these shows. I am perfectly suited for Jeopardy; my knowledge of otherwise useless trivia is boundless. I think its only use is in Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy. ::If you ever get around to converting your tape to digital format, (and the file isn't TOO large, we might be able to find some place to host it so your friends and family can download and watch it. :) ::I'd be interested in seeing your 'bad' tie, too! ;) :: ::As an aside, you are doing a great job on database. ::Keep up the good work! ::--Jamie 14:56, 13 June 2007 (UTC) :::Thanks, I'm really trying to make the entries I've worked on A. More readable and B. More easily accessible to casual readers (these pages-long history sections with no subsections are really daunting.) If anyone likes the style I'm using, maybe you can incorporate it into the guidelines eventually? Check out The Question and Red Arrow for an idea of what I'm talking about. :::As for the J! stuff, my first bad tie, at least, is easily visible in the pic with Alex on my user page. If I can ever pry my videos out of my mother's hands again, I may digitize the episodes, as you're not the first person to ask about that. Meanwhile, a fellow 2003-season contestant has posted up text-only runthroughs of my episodes here https://members.aol.com/_ht_a/tdciago/jeoparchive/122903.html and herehttps://members.aol.com/_ht_a/tdciago/jeoparchive/123003.html. It's possible to see all the answers I questioned right and wrong. I'm pretty sure that Canadians can get on Jeopardy- I'm almost positive I've seen some on the program. If you're ever in the So. California area you should enquire and try out. Chrisstansfield 00:12, 14 June 2007 (UTC) ::::I LOVE the subsections, yes, we should encourage that on all articles, most definitely. ::::The tie isn't that bad... you WON didn't you? ;) ::::Yes, Canadians can get on the show, but travelling into the US is a pain these days. I just got back from California in February. ::::I suppose the chance at winning thousands of dollars might ease my mind! :) ::::hehehe ::::Great work on those articles! Don't change a thing. ::::--Jamie 02:41, 14 June 2007 (UTC)